At one time, we had Clemson-Florida State, Michigan-Notre Dame, Kansas State-Oklahoma, and LSU-Auburn. Unfortunately, only one of those ended in an upset: #15 Kansas State over #6 Oklahoma, 24-19. #2 LSU survived against Auburn, scraping by with a 12-10 win. In spectacularly Les Miles fashion, the difference in this game was…a safety. Not a figurative safety, in that LSU won by two points. No, the LSU defense actually registered a safety in the first quarter…and that would be the difference in the game. LSU has a cupcake game next week versus Towson, but they will have to play much better in two weeks against a tough Florida defense, who pitched a shutout against Kentucky yesterday.

Winners and Losers – Week 4

Winners – FSU, Notre Dame, Directional Michigan, the MAC

Unfortunately, with wins over ranked opponents yesterday, both Florida State and Notre Dame will have the media asking “IS FLORIDA STATE/NOTRE DAME BACK?!?!?!?!” as if they were on a quest to re-annoint these historic college football powers as kings of the realm. Certainly, wins over ranked opponents are impressive, and both squads are Top 10 teams. However, the fawning over these two teams boards on excessive, and we fear it will only get worse. That being said, Notre Dame has the tougher route to remain undefeated, as they have to play #9 Stanford, at #6 Oklahoma, and at #13 USC. Florida State, conversely, has only one ranked opponent left on their schedule:#14 Florida, at home. If Florida State runs the table, expect a strength of schedule argument to enter into the national championship conversation.

The various directional Michigan schools each played very well yesterday, with Central Michigan defeating Iowa on a last second field goal, 32-31 and Western Michigan defeating UConn 30-24. Further, Eastern Michigan put a scare in #21 Michigan State, leading well into the third quarter before losing 7-23. The MAC, by extension, had a great day against out-of conference opponents. Their wins included:

Miami (OH) over UMass, 27-16

Central Michigan over Iowa, 32-31

Western Michigan over UConn, 30-24

Ohio over Norfolk State, 44-10

Northern Illinois over Kansas, 30-23

Ball State over South Florida, 31-27

Toledo over Coastal Carolina, 38-28

Additionally, Akron and Eastern Michigan kept their games against FBS schools competitive well into the second half (against Tennessee and Michigan State, respectively). Can we give the MAC the Big East’s BCS spot? Would anyone object to this?

Losers – Oklahoma, LSU, Arizona

Big Game Bob reared his ugly head again, losing the Bill Snyder’s Kansas State Wildcats 19-24. With games against #12 Texas, #11 Notre Dame, at #8 West Virginia, and at #17 TCU, the road doesn’t get any easier for the Sooners. It may seem weird to include LSU in the Losers section when they won their game, but their did so by the skin of their teeth, requiring their defense to push them to victory with a safety. Their offense looked atrocious, and Les Miles has much work to do if he wants to compete with Alabama for the SEC West title. #22 Arizona came into their game against #3 Oregon with one of the most explosive and high-caliber offenses in the Pac-12. Or rather, they did, as Oregon, not exactly known for its defense, held RichRod’s Wildcats to…zero points. Final score: 49-0, Ducks. This game did, however, produce one of the most memorial college screencaps of all-time, caught by @bubbaprog at 30fps.mocksession.com:

That perfectly captures everything you need to know about this game.

Top 25 Upsets

Oregon State over #19 UCLA, 27-20
#15 Kansas State over #6 Oklahoma, 24-19

A Look Ahead

#16 Ohio State travels to East Lansing to play #21 Michigan State, in Urban Meyer’s first real test as the Buckeye head coach. And…..um….that’s really it. #12 Texas at Oklahoma State could be compelling, maybe, and….er….Texas Tech at Iowa State?

Not a great docket next week, but remember, come March, we’ll be begging for games. Perspective: it’s good to have.